tagged w/ National Monuments
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Largest Marine Reserve Declared; Home to Mariana Trench
Dina Cappiello in Washington, D.C.
Associated Press
January 6, 2009
The home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other predators have been designated national marine monuments by U.S. President George W. Bush in the largest marine conservation effort in history. (See photos.)
The three areas—totaling some 195,274 square miles (505,757 square kilometers)—include the Mariana Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll in American Samoa, and seven islands strung along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean.
"We should be very happy because it's the largest marine area ever protected," said Enric Sala, a marine ecologist and National Geographic fellow and emerging explorer. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)
"We don't need more research to know that more of these remote intact places need to be protected," said Sala, who has helped conduct some of the few scientific surveys in the remote central Pacific islands, particularly in the pristine Kingman Reef.
"This is the only chance we have left to protect parts of the ocean that are still natural."
Palmyra Atoll, a region included in the monument, and Kingman Reef are among the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on earth, according to Suzanne Case, Hawaii director of the nonprofit the Nature Conservancy.
"At a time when positive news about our seas is rare, the designation of three new marine national monuments in the Pacific is a landmark to be celebrated," she added.
The areas harbor the highest fish biomass in the Pacific and are one of the few places still dominated by sharks and other predators, Case said in an email.
Rare Treasures
Each location harbors unique species—such as a bird that incubates its eggs in the heat of underwater volcanoes—and some of the rarest geological formations on Earth, including a sulfur pool. The only other known pool exists on Jupiter's moon Io.
All will be protected as national monuments—the same status afforded to statues and cultural sites—under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The law allows the government to immediately phase out commercial fishing and other extractive uses.
It will be the second time Bush has used the law to protect marine resources.
Two years ago, the president made a huge swath of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, barring fishing, oil and gas extraction, and tourism from its waters and coral reefs. At the time, that area was the largest conservation area in the world.
Savings Accounts
The three areas to be designated Tuesday are larger, though the decisions came with some opposition.
Northern Mariana Islands government officials and indigenous communities, for instance, initially objected to the monument designation, citing concerns about sovereignty, fishing, and mineral exploration.
Recreational fishing, tourism, and scientific research with a federal permit could still occur inside the three areas under the new law. The designations will not conflict with U.S. military activities or freedom of navigation, White House officials said.
The decisions also fell short in size and scope of what conservationists, including Sala, had hoped for.
"The bottom line is that less than a tenth of one percent of the ocean is protected," Sala said, versus 12 percent of land area locked up in reserves.
Reserves are important conservation strategies, Sala said, in that pristine environments can be thought of "savings accounts."
That's because protecting large areas allows marine life to flourish and eventually spill over into neighboring ecosystems, constantly replenishing the seas.
Christine Dell'Amore of National Geographic News contributed to this report.Largest Marine Reserve Declared; Home to Mariana Trench
Dina Cappiello in Washington,... more
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A proposal by U.S. President George W. Bush could give national-monument status to some of the world's most remote and pristine Pacific islands and their waters, potentially transforming them into the largest protected marine reserve on the planet.
But its success will hinge on whether the proposed ocean sanctuaries in the western and central Pacific are granted full-protection status, scientists warn.
That would prohibit potentially disruptive activities such as oil and gas drilling, fishing, and mineral extraction.
The central Pacific islands—which would include Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, and Jarvis and Howland Islands—could potentially cover about 776,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers) of protected area.
The western proposed reserve, comprising the Northern Mariana Islands, could cover as much as 115,000 square miles (297,000 square kilometers). It would include parts of the Mariana Trench, the deepest location on Earth's surface, along with coral reef islands called atolls. (See video of the islands.)
Because the President has exclusive power to protect U.S. resources, conservationists expect the new proposal will become law.
The waters of the central Pacific islands are home to some of the best preserved coral ecosystems in the world, Sala said.
Any one of the central Pacific islands in the proposed sanctuary contains five times as many coral species as the entire Florida Keys, as well as hundreds of fish species; dozens of species of seabirds; and numerous whale, dolphin, and sea turtle species.
A proposal by U.S. President George W. Bush could give national-monument status to... more
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President Bush announced today that three isolated stretches of the Pacific Ocean are under consideration for national monument status, a designation that could provide vast new protections for the regions' fragile coral reefs, seabirds and ocean creatures.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto said Bush has asked cabinet secretaries to assess the need for new protections for the large regions of U.S. territorial waters.
"These areas are host to some of the world's most bio-diverse coral reefs and habitat, and some of the most interesting and compelling geological formations in all of our oceans," he said at briefing near the President's Crawford ranch, where Bush is vacationing.
One area under consideration is the waters off the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the 36,000 foot deep Mariana Trench, the deepest canyon in the world.
"It's like Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon rolled into one," said Joshua S. Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, an advocacy organization that has urged the designation.
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According to Reichert, one survey found 19 different types of whales and dolphins in the area, which has the highest density of sharks anywhere in the Pacific, and 250,000 seabirds.
Reichert's group has recommended that protections be imposed on about 115,000 square miles of ocean, which would make it the second-largest protected marine preserve in the world. Bush established the largest in 2006, when he gave similar distinction to 140,000 square miles of ocean surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
The other two areas under consideration for designation are the Rose Atoll, near American Samoa, which Reichert said is known as a nesting ground for green sea turtles and a rare giant clam, and the oceans surrounding a series of islands and atolls in the central Pacific.
While the three areas now will be vetted for designation as a national monument or a marine sanctuary, many environmental experts believe the process will culminate with a grant of some protection for all of them. Reichert said the level of protection could vary. He called for a prohibition on both commercial fishing and oil and gas exploration.
Though environmentalists have been critical of Bush's record, his willingness to protect new ocean areas has gained him widespread praise.
Reichert said that if the same kind of protections Bush granted in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands preserve are extended to the Northern Marianas Islands region, Bush will have established environmental protections for more of the earth's surface than anyone else in history.
"He will have led the nation into a new era of ocean conservation," he said. President Bush announced today that three isolated stretches of the Pacific Ocean are... more
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Merge9
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added this
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3 years ago
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Many on Current have been saying it for years now, but now they are reporting on the actual physical degradation that is taking place in our capital. But at least people are finally waking up and doing what it takes to correct the problem, both with the government and it's home.
"Crumbling sidewalks, dead grass and water dirty enough to kill animals: it's a sorry state of affairs, prompting a growing number of activists to proclaim America's "front yard" a national disgrace and to launch a series of plans aimed at the most sweeping revitalization of the area in more than a century.
The 200-year-old national park's age spots are readily evident. A sea wall propping up the area by the Jefferson Memorial is slowly sinking into the tidal basin; flooded and cracked walkways are cordoned off. Maps are hard to find and outdated, omitting the Franklin Roosevelt and Korean War memorials, which have been in place for more than a decade. Throughout the 1,000-acre Mall, the footprints of 25 million yearly visitors have worn bare patches in the turf where grass no longer grows. Food, water and bathrooms are scarce, as are parking, public transportation and shady places to sit.
"People think of the Mall as this great inspiring landscape, which it is, but up close it's clear that as a nation we're not giving it the attention it needs," says Judy Feldman, head of the National Coalition to Save the Mall, an eight-year-old advocacy group pressing for long-term revitalization of the Mall and its surroundings. "I just got back from a trip to Europe, where historical places are preserved as vibrant, living spaces. To come back to see this, the condition of the Mall is an embarrassment."Many on Current have been saying it for years now, but now they are reporting on the... more
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AOL News
By STEPHEN MANNING,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-11 07:36:19
Filed Under: Nation News
WASHINGTON (May 10) - The centerpiece for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall has drawn criticism from a federal arts panel, which says the proposed statue looks "confrontational" and resembles the head of a socialist state more than a civil rights leader.....
More at the link on the controversy.
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from TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
AOL News
By STEPHEN MANNING,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-11 07:36:19
Filed Under: Nation... more
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